Baseball mercenary Jacoby Ellsbury: take the money and run to New York Yankees

In the case of 30-year-old Jacoby Ellsbury, it’s a literal definition. The New York Yankees are committing close to $25-million a season to Ellsbury over a seven-year deal to run the bases like none other in the American League — he’s averaged close to 50 steals over the five seasons in which he played a full schedule including league-highs of 50 in ’08, 70 in ’09 and 52 in ’13. Oh yeah, there are two seasons in which he barely played because of injuries on his resume.

The Yankees are also banking on Ellsbury’s ability to run down fly balls in Yankee Stadium’s spacious centre field. In his career as a middle outfielder, Ellsbury has a fielding percentage of .995 including three gold gloves, which is about as good as it gets. He’s a clutch hitter with a knack for coming through in the big moments, witness a .301 average in nine post-season series and .325 in two World Series appearances.

Ellsbury certainly knows what it takes to win — he played key roles in leading the Boston Red Sox to championships in each of 2007 and 2013 — and the Yankees, if nothing else, are all about winning. They think Ellsbury can return them to the promised land. If it takes overpaying a good but not great talent, so be it.

Scott Boras, who is Ellsbury’s agent, understands the money game as well as anybody. He might be the most despised figure among baseball general managers. But he finds a way to get what his clients want most: the almighty dollar, and lots of them. If it takes manipulating a team to bid against itself — fueled by a little white lie perhaps — Boras is your man. Not by coincidence, he represents the highest-paid players in the major leagues — most notably Alex Rodriguez, first as a Texas Ranger when Boras conned Rangers owner Tom Hicks to bid against himself, and later with the Yankees when Boras manipulated the inexperience of George Steinbrenner’s son, Hal, to give a 32-year-old A-Rod $300M against the better judgment of the team’s general manager.

Steve Boras is the real-life Jerry Maguire from the movie by the same name. Show me the money.

On the one hand, you can’t blame a Jacoby Ellsbury, or A-Rod, or any ball player for that matter, for cashing in when the opportunity strikes. Baseball negotiated a collective-bargaining agreement way back when that allows for players to declare free agency after six seasons, so if the market is there, why not capitalize? Career spans are short, the system allows for it and teams are making a boat-load of money. So strike while the iron is hot.

By definition, the baseball mercenary removes any of the other factors — such as compatibility with former teammates, comfort level in a city, ballpark and fans, winnability of said team — and takes the sweetest deal. Vince Lombardi is credited with uttering the phrase: winning isn’t the the most important thing, it’s the only thing. For a baseball mercenary like a Jacoby Ellsbury, winning a championship last season was a means to an end, the one that made the most ‘cents’ to him.

Jacoby Ellsbury is the centre of attention in the locker room celebration after winning the World Series with the Boston Red Sox on Oct. 30. You have to figure winning a title helped Ellsbury in his pursuit of a free-agent contract with the New York Yankees.

He proved that not so much because he’s getting a ridiculous $158M contract — after all, it’s why they play the game — but more from whom he’ll be getting those big bucks.

When Ellsbury dons the Yankee pinstripes for the first time in 2014, he will be running contrary to the very culture that has defined his professional baseball existence right from the day he signed on with the Red Sox organization in 2005 as a first-round pick in the draft.

Baseball fans in Boston have known it for decades, and players learn it from day one: there are opponents, and then there are the New York Yankees. The arch enemy, the evil empire. Doesn’t matter that Derek Jeter comes across as a well-respected, dignified human being: he is a New York Yankee, the worst form of baseball existence. Mariano Rivera may have been an exception, but only because he was on the mound when the Red Sox began their unprecedented comeback in the ninth inning of Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS. Red Sox fans fondly remember it was Rivera who allowed Dave Roberts to steal second base with two out, and then surrender the game-tying hit to Bill Mueller that led to the Red Sox winning in extra innings and propelling them to sweep the next three games and win the pennant.

New York Yankees Mariano Rivera is presented with a painting by Boston Red Sox David Ortiz while being honored prior to the game against the Boston Red Sox on Sept. 15 at Fenway Park in Boston. Contrary to his team, Rivera has always been a popular figure in Boston, stemming back to the 2004 ALCS.

Boston swept the St. Louis Cardinals in four straight games in that 2004 Fall Classic to claim their first title in 86 years, and wipe away the so-called Yankee Curse that was cast upon them when they sold the game’s greatest player, Babe Ruth, to the Yankees in 1919. Looking back, what fans most remember about that magical year was not so much the win over the Cardinals but beating the hated Yankees which allowed for it to happen. When the Red Sox hosted the Yankees in their 2005 season opener, the fans had warm (maybe even mock) applause for Rivera for the role he played in breaking the 86-year curse, and Rivera’s gracious reaction took away some of the vitriolic edge that Red Sox fans hold for anybody Yankee. His farewell tour of last season transcended the longstanding rivalry as well.

You can bet Ellsbury won’t feel the love when he visits Fenway Park for the first time in 2014. But unlike Johnny Damon before him, it probably won’t matter. He’s among the game’s richest players, and that supersedes the NY crest on the front of his uniform, or the pinstripes that Red Sox players — and fans — have learned to loathe. When he steps in the batter’s box, the fans will boo, and boo, and boo, but Ellsbury will go about his business, because that’s what he’s done his entire career. Boston Herald writer Scott Laubar tweeted after learning of the Yankee deal: Ellsbury would have signed with North Korea if they had offered the most money.

Shaughnessy: The Yankees committed $153m over 7 years to a guy who missed 264 of his last 648 regular season games http://t.co/YLT4BvNtFM

For Johnny Damon, it wasn’t that easy. He was part of that zany Red Sox team in 2004 replete with the long hair and the shaggy beards, but when it came crunch time to talk contract following the 2005 season, Damon took the money and ran off to become a Yankee, after he had publicly denounced the prospect of a Red Sox player ever entertaining such a move. Needless to say, when a clean-shaven (the Yankee way) Damon made his 2006 debut at Fenway Park, the fans weren’t about to recognize the business ‘cents’ behind his decision. He was labelled a Judas, and Damon paid an emotional price for the deal he had struck.

Perhaps Damon didn’t understand the culture. He wasn’t an original Red Sox, having migrated to Fenway Park after stops in Kansas City and Oakland. He had already shown himself to be a baseball mercenary, but by his emotional reaction to being booed in Boston, perhaps he was trying to distance himself from that distinction. Fans appreciate loyalty, and even if they can understand that baseball is a business first and foremost, they can be ruthless when they’ve invested adulation in a guy who ends up bolting at the first opportunity.

In Boston, Ellsbury never pledged his allegiance to Red Sox Nation. He made it clear that he would take the best deal when it came time to sign on the dotted line. To hell that it might be with the New York Yankees. Jonathan Papelbon did the same thing, but he didn’t sign with the Yankees so when he made his return to Fenway Park as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies, he wasn’t treated as the scum of the earth. He was given due recognition as a guy who had contributed to a championship and then moved on to take a deal that made business “cents” to him.

In this July 23, 2007, file photo, Roger Clemens is shown pitching on behalf of the New York Yankees. He began his career with the Boston Red Sox before signing a big deal with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1997. Upon his return to Fenway Park, Clemens was given a favourable reaction from Red Sox fans. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)

Roger Clemens was an iconic figure as a Red Sox in the first nine years of his career who ended up with the Yankees and in fact helped them win a pair of championships in 1999 and 2000. But when he left Boston after the 1996 season in which he lost more games than he won, his standing with the fans and with management had deteriorated to the point where a breakup was inevitable. It should also be noted that Clemens, like Ellsbury an original Red Sox, didn’t defect to the arch-rivals. He signed with Toronto Blue Jays and so when he made his return to Fenway Park, he was greeted by the fans more as a victim of a bad general manager (Dan Duquette) than as somebody who turned his back on his beloved fans.

Ellsbury is certainly not unique. Albert Pujols was a beloved figure over an 11-year stretch with the St. Louis Cardinals. He never hit under .300 during his time there, and was rewarded as such by the Cardinals. But when his most recent deal expired following the 2011 season, a season that saw the underdog Cardinals win the World Series, Pujols made it clear that the Cardinals’ offer of $25M a season over five years was an “insult” and he was prepared to bolt to the highest bidder. Weeks later, he was being introduced as a member of the Los Angeles Angels for a cool $250M over 10 seasons.